It is known in the art that racemates can be reacted with optically active compounds to form diastereomers that can be separated. Thus, it is known that racemic mixtures of acids can be separated by a process which comprises reacting the racemate with an optically active base such as quinine, and then separating the diastereomers thereby produced by a technique such as fractional crystallization. This type of separation technique is time-consuming and expensive.